Wear-resisting tool joint



Nov. 16, 1943. R. NEUHAUS WEAR-RESISTING TOOL JOINT Filed Oct. 27, 1941 F11 y. Z

[N V EN TOR.

ATTORNEYS.

B64012 Neu/zaus 2,293,997, August 25, 1942. l v

In the operation of drilling it is customary PatentedNow I6.

' 'My invention relatesto tool Joints employed to connect togetherthe-sections of drill DiDQ' for well drilling; a a e the drill stem in the opera I 5 flare connected together by'tool" joints which are In the rotation of tlon of drilling-the sections or the drill stem of heavier construction than that of-the pipe, the wall thickness being substantially greater.

During the operation of rotating the 'drill stem 1 In properly attaching wmn-aasls'rmoroon Jouyr;

Ralph Houston, TeX-3 Hughes Tool Company. Houston. Tom, a oorporation of Delaware l 7 Application Qctoiper :7. 1941, Serial'No. 416,532. 1 Claim. (01. Sim-4i, I v v I from the surface or the loint. Both of these methods are unsatisfactory. B -has been found thatwhen thus secured the hard facing material has insuflicient attachment to the toollqint and will crack-up -and break away from th -surface ofthe Joint and 'thusffailto perform the 7 service which is'desiredi the hard facing toi the tool joints'l have found thatif the hard facing the said drill stem is subjected to lateral bend-' 1 islextended'belowthe surface of the too 'joint ing strains of a material amount which tends to cause fatigue in the stem. Due, to-the fact that the tool Joint is orlarger diameter than thepipe the outer surface of the 'joint; engagesthe wall of the well and tends to wear ra'pidly. Sometimes the tool joint will be wornto such an extent that it is unsafe to use farther even.

where the drill stem is still in good condition.

- This necessitates the replacing of tool'loints after a comparatively short period of wear.

' It is an oblect'of 'my invention to decrease the 7 amount of wear on the tool joint so that its life will'be materially prolonged and the necessity for replacement will be reduced.

I desire to provide a hard facing material. upon broken up in the drilling operation.

' the outer surface of the tool loint which will remain-in position-and will not be With reference to thet draw s hel'with; 8.

1 is a broken side view partlyin section showing one means of applying the hard facing to the pin member of a tool joint;-

Fig. 21s a similar view showing adifferent arrangement for securing the hard f'acingfinaterial in position illustrated in connection with the box memberof the tool joint. I

I This is a continuation-impart of my prior application serial No. 287,695, filed August 1, 1939,

for Tool joints-which matured into Patent No.

been customary to place the hard facing in the 5 form of plating secured to the outer surface .so thatit will not-Yprojec't therefrom, and also joint is overcome. t v

In carrying out .this inventive idea I have shownin Fig. 1 aniethod of attachment of the:

hard surfacingwhich has been satisfactory. The material in this embodiment is secured in; spaced recesses' circumferentially around the-joint.. In this figure the body=l of the tool joints is shown as provided with the usualv taper and threaded pin 2. The tool joint is integrally secured with the pipe section} and it may be understood that this section'of the pipe may be approximately thirty'feet long j I may attach the hard facing material intrecesses in the surface of the Joint itself, 'or, as shown in Fig. 1', I- may form recesses [in the outer periphery of a detachable ring 5. 'lhis ring may be'placed adjacent the tapered shoulder 6 between the Joint and the pip 'and'the ring may be beveled at I, so that it will accord with the taper on the shoulder 6.- This' ring 5 is '35 rformed with recesses-in a circumferential row around the outer periphery of the ring and the" ring is then mounted upon a reduced surface 8 upon the pipe and'welded in,'p' osition by a bond of welding material 9. v

The hard facing material which" is ordinarly employed is tungsten carbide which melts at a relatively high temperature. The recesses 4 are formed in the outer periphery of the ring and the hard surfacing material in granulated form is welded within the recesses with a binder of steel and integrally attaches itself to the walls of' therecess.- The side walls III of the recesses are of the ,joint by welding or otherwise. This hard facing may completely cover the surface of the" joint where it is exposed to wear, or may be placed thereon in ridges projecting curved somewhat due to the fact that the steel which secures the layer of hard facing material is in molten condition and as the bottom and side of the recesses are'preheated, the walls tend to become rounded;

Although I .have illustrated this hard facing as attached to the-ring before the ring is placed in outwardly 6c positiomit is obvious that 'the recesses 4 may also and the hard facing material welded in position terial upon the ring and to flx the ring-in position on the Joint;

In Fig. 2 I have shown the hard facing material I during the drilling operation theheaviest wear assgsaobe formed in the outer surface ofthe "tool Joint 5 By placing the hard surfacing material within 7 grooves in the pipe where it can be more firmly 3 directly upon the Joint. It is a matter of convenience, however to place the hard facing maattached to the pipe and by making the grooves relatively parallel I provide a firm attachment for {the hard facing material so thatit can not be easily broken or removed from the groove. Further, as the outer surface of the hard facing metal is flushwith the surface of the pipe there is no portion which projects from the joint so that it comes upon the lower shoulder and along the I outer portion of the joint. I therefore prefer to place the grooves l2, in whichthe hard facing material is disposed, along the. lower end of the box member. Also, one or more grooves may be placed directly upon the tapered elevator shoulder l3. As thetapered shoulder has-to accoml modate the elevators which engage the-pipe in raising and'lowering the same in the drilling operations it has been found that the elevator will wear'exce'ssively when it bears against the ringshard material ,Within the grooves l2.

shown in dotted lines, will not ,contactwith the may be broken from its attachment. Tool Joints -thus formed have been found in-service to last nearly three'times as long as the tool joint without'the wear-resisting material secured thereto. This is particularly true where the tool joints are operated in wells narrow circumferential groove therein with bottom and side walls, a band of metal containing particles of tungsten carbide fused into said groove and integrally engaging with said walls, 1

the outer surface of said band being flush with the outer peripheral surface of said member.

RALPH NEUHAUS.

having abrasive formations therein. 

